Out on the track, David and Danielle Pringle’s Midnight Starlet is an inside runner who takes no prisoners if she gets a free run at it.
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Off the field – when the two-year-old bitch isn’t being trained in Melbourne – the pair’s daughter knows her by a different name: Princess.
Midnight Starlet is through to the final of the biggest greyhound race in the country on Saturday night, set to line up in the Greyhound Racing NSW and Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase in Sydney after blitzing the Wentworth track in semi-finals last week.
The Clergate-born runner finished a tenth of a second ahead of next best Buck’s Future at Wentworth to win her way into the chance at a million dollars on Saturday night.
It built on her first placed finish in record time at Dubbo in September to qualify with a 29.27 second run, 0.03 seconds ahead of Brad Hill Billy’s 2016 record.
The bitch is owned by Danielle and after initially training with David, the pair decided to send her to Victoria to train with Seona Thompson.
David Pringle said the semi-final last Friday was a tense run.
“I thought she’d have to do everything right, the dog on the outside gave her a hard time and sat on her shoulder but she shimmied him off and got her way in the end,” Pringle said.
That dog on the outside was Dyna Patty, one of the best dogs in the country who was a lazy $1.80 to take the prize compared to Midnight Starlet’s $9.00, but eventually finished in fourth.
He said she would be “better for the run” over the past week and while he didn’t want to jinx her, he admitted was looking in good form ahead of the final.
“I thought if we draw barrier one or two we’re in with a chance,” he said.
Which is exactly what she’s done, with Midnight Starlet set to line up in barrier one.
However, the big thing that could prove a hindrance to Midnight Starlet would be a wet track if heavy rain hits Sydney before the race.
“She’s a mad railer so if we get a dry track she could be in it up to her eyeballs,” Pringle said.
While Pringle said his nerves were up and about last week, he’s more relaxed leading into the final than he was into the semi.
“I’m just thrilled to be in it, hopeful of getting something, and if we don’t, there’s always next year.”
Midnight Starlet has plenty of time left after nearly having her shot at running finished before she started due to the racing ban.
“When she was six weeks old it looked like she might never race, and here were are years later and she’s going to be in the biggest race in the country,” Pringle said.